Posted on 09/17/2005 9:08:12 PM PDT by neverdem
GREEN MOUNTAIN NATIONAL FOREST, Vt. - Chomping wad after wad of Bubblicious Strawberry Splash gum and giggling as she tickled people's necks with a piece of grass she pretended was a spider, Samantha Marley could have been any 9-year-old girl.
A couple of things set her apart, though. She was cloaked in camouflage from boots to baseball cap. And propped next to her on the seat of a truck was her very own 20-gauge shotgun.
Samantha, a freckle-faced, pony-tailed fourth grader, was on a bear hunt. Not the pretend kind memorialized in picture books and summer-camp chants, but a real one for black bears that live in the woods of southwestern Vermont and can weigh 150 pounds or more.
She had won a "dream hunt" given away by a Vermont man whose goal is to get more children to hunt, and she had traveled about 200 miles from her home in Bellingham, Mass., and was missing three days of school to take him up on his offer.
"Almost everything you hunt is pretty fun," said Samantha, grinning and perfectly at home with a group of five men, the youngest of whom was nearly three times her age.
At one point, as the group crossed a wooden bridge, Samantha's father, Scott, who had accompanied her - and had filled out her application for the hunting contest - teased her that trolls lived under the bridge.
"Dad," Samantha said with bravado, "I got a gun."
The dream hunt - all expenses paid, including taxidermy - was the brainchild of Kevin Hoyt, a 35-year-old hunting instructor who quit a job as a structural steel draftsman a few years ago and decided to dedicate himself to getting children across the country interested in hunting.
His efforts reflect...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
It's too late for me to get into that debate.
Sweet dreams...
You go out in the woods with nothing but a sleeping bag, knife, gun and ammo and within a few days you'll be a hunter too. That's when you really get close to nature.
I'm not a vegan but when I do have children, animal flesh won't be a part of their diet.
Oh congrats. That's a wonderful family milestone.
Whoops. Sorry.
WWII replacements aren't the only ones with poor marksmanship, I guess. :-)
I've got an appointment with my ophthalmologist coming up in a week or two. Maybe new specs will help me find the right "reply" link.
I have one surviving Grandmother, and I'd love to get six generations spanned in one picture...
It's legal when they are supervised.
I suppose becoming vegetarian for my health cuts down on the fanaticism/self righteousness. I do care about animals but my health is my primary concern. Plus, I've been around those and hate to be that type of person. I'd hate to say to a starving rural family, it's better to eat cardboard tomatoes than to hunt fresh meat :(
What a wonderful idea...I don't need to tell you that every effort should be made to make that happen! :-)
Wow I don't know too many people who would allow kids that young to carry guns. I'm sure it happens though.
And nature will probably get close to you too depending on where you live!
""One family I stayed with as a guest a while back - nothing drew the parents ire more than the boys criticizing their sisters activities/conversations or vice versa when the girls wanted to rough-house around. It was refreshing to see this purpose these parents had for raising their kids.""
I do not understant this statment.
Also, Tailors alter clothes.
Twice a year I can you send you all the fresh goose eggs you could ever want....;))
LOL!! Funny you should mention skunks, because there's an area I drive through almost daily where I think the entire skunk population of NJ is residing, and in the spring especially that delightful odor is always in the air. I remember driving over one that had already been squooshed by someone else, and I had the stink on my car for a week! So you all out there in the sticks aren't the only ones having fun. ;-)
Free range chickens vs. egg factory chickens.
Nothing tastes like a fresh egg laid by a happy, healthy chicken....:)
My mother will love you for all eternity.
So your'e a vegetarian?
Never getting blood on your own hands but only letting others do your killing for you is TRULY "creepy"!
I don't eat meat which means no animal flesh. Slaughterhouse jobs are probably the worst operating conditions anyone can be in imho. I wouldn't wish that job on anyone.
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